The Power Within
by Supercaliy
Summary: This original story in the world of Heroes follows the adventures of a young teen artist named Oliver Benton, who realizes he has the power to paint the future.


Everyone is different. Everyone has their own destiny. Whether we follow our own or set our own path. Evolution has shaped and formed us from when we were once a singled celled organisms to the now most advanced race of being on the planet. But some certain individuals have furthered into evolution than others. Cellular regeneration, flight, superhuman strength, these are only a few of hundreds of examples of abilities some people have already been born with. Some individuals don't know they have them, their abilities haven't manifested yet, but so many have already manifested and have had to learn to live in secrecy with their abilities. These are only a few of the unknown number of special people in the world…

Oliver Benton

Benton Residence, CA

6:13 A.M

The bright, shining light in the young teens eyes were more than enough to help wake him up early this morning. Ollie's eyes fluttered open, thought it was hard to do with such a bright light right in his eyes. He groaned, lifting his hand to block the rays of sun from his eyes when he realized there was paint around his hand. He flipped his hand around to face his palm, seeing plashes of red and brown all over them. He sighed heavily as he lifted himself up to sit and saw the paint from his hands must have gotten all over his blankets. "Oh crap, not again." He said, shaking his head. He looked over at his easel right in front of the window. He put his easel there so he had easy access to it and so he could look out the window any time he felt like pausing or in case he needed to look outside, any possible muse from looking out and around he outside world was helpful for him.

Oliver brushed the sheets off his body and got himself out of bed so he could go look at the easel from a much less bright view, for the view from his bed he could barely see what he painted with all the light shining around it, making it appear as if he was looking at a shadow. He got up and walked over a few steps, out of the rays of light and saw the painting, raising his brow. It was a perfectly painted scene of a motel in flames, burning from the windows and the smoke going high into the sky. He didn't know why he was drawing such odd things without being able to remember. Ollie tried his best to remember as his hand found his way to his perfectly blond, spikey head of hair. It just wasn't clicking. He shook his head, walking out of the room. As he passed the mirror next to his bedroom door, something caught his eye. He took a step back to stand in front of the mirror again and saw red paint on his cheek. He just let out a nice, long sigh. "Mom's going to kill me." He whispered to himself. He left his bedroom and carefully made his way downstairs where he found his mother, folding laundry in the kitchen while watching the Food Network, as usual.

"Hey Mom," He said, just before clearing his throat and rubbing the back of his neck "Is there any breakfast?" He asked, trying to act as normal as possible.

His mother nodded her head and pointed over to the kitchen table "I made waffles." She said, completely focused between folding her laundry and watching what was on the television screen. She didn't even look at Oliver, and he was quite thankful of that. As he walked over to the kitchen table and took a seat, her eyes wandered over to him and her jaw dropped right as Ollie picked up his fork, ready to eat. "Oh no, Oliver, did it happen again?" She asked with a vaguely disappointed tone.

He took a deep breath, looking down at himself and nodded. "Basically, yeah." He lifted his hands up, all splattered with paint to show her. "How could you tell?" He smirked, trying to find the humor in it.

His mother just gave him a stern look and he immediately turned his smirk upside down and started to eat his waffles. He tried to avoid eye contact as his mother stopped what she was doing and went over to the table. "You really need to see somebody about this again, Oliver. It's happening too often, we need to figure out what's wrong with you." She explained. She had been pulling this crap the past two months. Ever since she found out Ollie had been sleep-painting, as they called it.

Ollie sighed and looked back up to her. "There's no point, mom. The last doctor already said there was nothing wrong with me, it's just something I do that I can't remember because I'm half asleep. I mean, my instinct while I'm awake is to paint or draw anything, you wouldn't be making such a big deal about it if I wasn't getting paint everywhere when it happens." He said, looking down at his food as he cut off another piece of his waffle and took a bite.

"You got paint all over those new blankets, didn't you?" She asked, as if she already knew the answer to his question. Ollie just looked up at her for a moment and looked back down. His mother sighed and shook her head before walking away. "Sometimes I can't help but wonder if I'd win these battles if your father was still around." She said as she made her way over to continue folding laundry.

He just sighed at that as he tried to enjoy his breakfast, which never seemed to happen lately. "I guess we'll never know, Mom." He said simply, avoiding further eye contact.

His mother nodded her head as he folded the last shirt and dropped it into the basket, picking it up off the counter. "Make sure to get all that paint off you before you get to school." She said as she headed upstairs with the laundry basket.

Lex Keaton & Whitney Jordan

Sal's Diner, CA

7:45 A.M

The waitress walked over to the first window of the diner, right to the booth in front fo the window closest to the door as she set down two plates of food. A plate of sausages and biscuits went in front of the muscular, model-looking type man with very shirt, thin brunette hair and blue eyes that could kill. A place of scrambled eggs and bacon went on the other side of the booth in front of a darker, tall girl with raven black hair and prominent features. "Thanks, miss." She said before picking up her fork.

The man smiled and nodding. "Yeah, thanks a lot, miss." He added, picking up his coffee and taking another sip before starting his meal. As soon as she walked away, he looked over across the table to her. "So, Whit, are you positive they are planning on moving in today?" He asked, picking up his fork and stabbing the sausages as he looked over to her as he brought the food to his lips.

Chewing on her eggs, Whitney nodded. "Trust me, Lex. Today's the day. I heard it straight from Kayla. They're going after them today. Somehow they already know one of them manifested, or they're at about too. Not even they're keen enough to know exactly when it's going to happen." She said with a sigh before taking another bite of her eggs.

Lex nodded his head, licking his lips slightly. "And the game plan is?" He asked, she was always the control freak in the group, so of course she was going to have a plan of attack already.

Whitney set her utensils downs and dug into her front pocket, taking out a ripped piece of paper and sliding it across the table to him. "That's the address of the boy, but he always goes to Lowell High School. So he could be either places. You know teenagers though, he could really be anywhere." She explained, picking up her fork and knife again as she started to cut off another piece of eggs. "I'll be heading into San Diego in about an hour to follow up on my own lead. So, after this meal, we'll be officially splitting up." She explained.

He nodded his head, taking in a deep breath. "Sounds like you got it all figured out." He said, holding the note in his hand before smirking and stuffing it into his own pocket. "So, we'll be meeting back at the Safe House tonight then, right?" He could only ask that so many times.

She chuckled and nodded her head. "Yeah, if it all goes smoothly. We can't let them get to these two, especially not the precog you're going after today. If they get their hands on that boy before us, game over. And _she's_ not going to be too happy about that." Whitney explained, giving him a real serious look right now.

Lex shook his head. "Well, if she asks, make sure she knows it's all being taken care of." He said, taking a bite of one of his biscuits. "She should worry about herself and getting out of there before they find out what she's really up too." He stated, chewing his food. They both just looked at each other. This was going to be the true test for both of them.

Oliver Benton

Lowell High School, CA

11:58 A.M

After all the excitement from this morning, Ollie was just grateful to be back at school where everything was less full of a drama and felt more like normalcy. It seemed like nothing in his life had been all that normal lately.

It was lunch time and Oliver got his lunch and went straight outside to join his friends. He had a plate with a slice of pizza, an apple and small bag of Lays potato chips. He looked around and found one of his friends, Symon, waving his hand from the other side of the outdoor lunch area. He was sitting at a table with their other friend, Remy. He smiled and waved back as he crossed the lunch area to that table, "Hey guys, what's up?" Ollie asked as he took a seat at the circular table.

"We were just talking about the fire." Remy said as Symon took a bite of his apple and nodded. "Did you hear about it?" Remy asked Ollie.

Ollie shook his head quickly. "Nope, didn't hear about any fires." He said, picking up his pizza and taking a bite out of eat. "I'm guessing you don't mean here at school." Ollie spoke as he chewed.

Symon swallowed and shook his head. "No, the fire at the hotel." He paused.

Ollie's eyes widened. "Wait… what?" He asked.

"Yeah, there was an electrical fire at the Martin Motel. Whole place when up in flames! It's crazy right now, dude." Remy explained, a rather excited expression implanted on his face.

The blond looked between them quickly. "Did you just say it was happening right now?"

Remy nodded his head, "Yeah, I got the link during my last class, I don't think they've even put the fire out yet." Remy said as he dug through his pocket took take out his Galaxy cell phone and pulled it up, handing it to Oliver.

Ollie took the phone and held it sideways, watching the live broadcast news report of the burning motel. He shook his head at the sight of it, it was the exact same scene of the painting he made in his sleep last night, the one he woke up to without a single memory of painting. It was the exactly same thing he was looking at right now.

How could it be?

He dropped the phone on the lunch table and stumbled to get out of his seat, tripping on it and falling on his butt right on the ground. His friends stood up and looked over at him. "Ollie, are you okay?" Symon asked him as Ollie got back up to his feet.

Nodding his head he went to grab his backpack from the lunch table and quickly put it on his back. "Nothing, I mean- Yeah, I'm fine. I just- I have to get out of here!" Ollie said as he took off running through the courtyard around the side of the school. His only option right now was to run home and not look back. He had to get home and make sure that painting was real. And that he wasn't going crazy.

Oliver Benton & Lex Keaton

Benton Residence, CA

12:34 P.M

Ollie rushed home as soon as he could, he just got to his car as fast as he could and drove home in a panic. Luckily his mother wasn't home to see any of his current mental breakdown, for she would have been well into her shift at the hospital. So Ollie was free to flail around and freak out around the house with nobody else but himself to take notice. And maybe the neighbors, if they were feeling nosey enough to snoop around today. But that was the farthest thing from his mind right now. He pulled into the drive way, nearly hitting the garage before he flew out of his car and headed right inside. Luckily the door was already open, saving him time so all he had to do as open the door and kick it close as soon as he got inside. Oliver ran up the stairs and into his room and saw the portrait there. He swallowed roughly, taking a few, very slow steps over to the painting. There it was, the exact save scene from today's news. The fire that happened today, while he was in school. Something he managed to paint last night that he couldn't even remember. How could that be?

"Very good work." He heard the voice of a male coming from behind him.

Ollie gasped and quickly spun his body around only to see Lex pushing his bedroom door shut and close. Oliver had no idea who Lex was. He narrowed his eyes and shook his head. His eyes were started to water. "Wh-Who are you?" He asked with a shaky tone of voice.

Lex took a few steps forward, but that only made Ollie want to step back more, so he stopped. Lex smirked, shaking his head. "No reason to be scared, I know this must all be very confusing for you. But I'm a friend, I'm not here to hurt you, I swear." He explained.

Ollie did his best to move around him, trying to get closer to the door. "Th-Then who are you and what do you want? You broke into my house, why!?" He questioned, glancing over at the door.

Lex took a quick step to the side and blocked his path. "Hey, don't get any smart ideas. Like I said, I'm a friend. I'm here to help you." He said, putting his hands up to his front to show surrender. "Listen Oliver, we don't have much time." He tried to explain.

The blond raised a brow, giving Lex an odd expression. "How… how do you know my name?" He asked.

"Because I know more about you than you know yourself. And any minute now, there are going to be people here that are going to try and take you away because of that gift you possess." Lex explained, looking over to the painting on the easel.

Ollie glanced over to the painting and then back at the guy. "I-I-I don't know what you're talking about." He said, quickly clearing his throat.

Lex smirked. "Of course you do, Oliver. You're special. You can paint things that haven't even happened yet. Am I right?" He asked.

The blond shook his head. "No… no! No, this is crazy. I can't pain the future, come on!" he said, shaking his head. Denial was something he was always willing to make time for. And none of this made enough logical sense for him to be able to believe any of this was true.

"You have power, Oliver! I know it, you know, and they know it, too." Said Lex, looking the young boy right in the eye.

Ollie just kept shaking his head, this was all so much to process. "I-I can't-" At that moment he was cut off by the doorbell ringing. Ollie froze in place, wondering who could be there.

Lex rushed past Oliver and looked out the window, trying to see if he could tell who was at the front door, but he had a pretty good idea of who it might be already. He looked around the street and saw the van. Shaking his head, he turned to Oliver again. "It's them, we-" But by the time he turned around, Ollie was already out of the room, running down the stairs. "Shit!" He cussed, running after him. "No, don't open that door!"

Oliver was all turned around, he didn't know what to do. Should he run from this guy? Should he answer the door? He didn't know what to do, but as soon as his feet hit the floor again, he ran around the stairs and down the hall with Lex coming down right after him. Ollie ran right to the back screen door, quickly unlocking it and sliding it open for him to run out onto the porch. Lex was right behind him, making sure to close the screen door and he watched as the blond took off across the lawn at full speed. For a scrawny little blond teenager, he could sure run fast.

"Whatever you do, kid, don't stop running!" Lex shouted from behind him, right behind on. He wasn't sure who the kid was running from, it was probably good that he wasn't trusting anyone, it would help him in the long run.

As soon as Ollie reached the fence at the end of the yard, he leaped up and jumped right over it, landing swiftly on the other side and taking off again as soon as he hit the ground. Finally the past three years of running track was paying off in his day to day life. Better late than never, right? He went to run right to the street, past the house whose bark yard he just landed into. But then, a man came from around the corner, holding some kind of weapon and it was hard to tell if it was supposed to be a gun or a tranquilizer.

With the weapon pointed at Ollie, he stopped in his tracks, nearly falling down for briefly losing balance when he had to stop at such a sudden halt. He looked behind him, but didn't see Lex following him anymore. God only knows if this guy was for real or not.

"Take it easy, kid. I don't want to hurt you." Said the man, pointing the gun at him as he started to carefully start taking step by step closer to him, but as he took a step closer, Ollie was sure to take a step back.

Suddenly, Lex came from behind the fence and tackled the man right to the ground. So surprised, the man fired a shot and Ollie ducked down to the ground, shielding his body with his arms. Lex had the man pinned to the ground, holding him by his shirt. "Go!" he called over to Ollie, who was just standing there, not sure what to do. "Run, now! I'll catch up." He said, looking back down at the man he had pinned to the lawn.

Ollie nodded his head and turned around to start running again. He took off across his neighbor's yard and headed for the fence again.

Lex looked down at the man, struggling to get up. "Now, where was that bullet hole from that time I shot you in the shoulder?" Lex asked his hand pressing against his left shoulder, right above his heart. "Oh right, here it is." He grinned down at him and slowly the wound scar beneath the shirt opened up again and started to bleed within seconds, the man couldn't help but scream in agony as the blood rushed down his shoulder, which only kept up a few seconds until he passed out, his body finally going into septic shock. And as much as he didn't want to be that guy, Lex had to leave him there. Not before taking out his phone and dialing 911, of course.

Oliver Benton & Ashley Knight

San Francisco, CA

1:04 P.M

Oliver didn't stop running, Lex told him to go and he went. He had no idea what was going on, where he was going, or what was to come. But the other man assured he'd meet up with him soon. He just didn't see how they would find each other if he didn't even know where Ollie was going. He took off down an alley, he could smell the freedom on the other end so he just kept going. He looked back for a split second, seeing nobody on his tail and as he looked at his front again, he was being suddenly blasted in the face with water, stopping him completely and causing his feet to fly out from under him and he fell back-first onto the ground. Pain traveled through his body as he coughed and looked over. The water that hit him was moving by itself. It was forming into something, something that was growing taller and taking form.

Ollie looked up and watched in awe as the water eventually formed a woman. She was tall, with blond, slightly curly hair and dressed like she just hopped off the back of a dude's Harley. Yeah, she basically looked like a badass. "How did you-"

"Do that?" She cut him off, kneeling down next to him. Although she just came from the water- literally- she was a dry as the desert, not even her hair showed the slightest signs of condensation. She smirked. "All in due time, let's get you out of here, okay?" She asked, raising her hand to for him to take.

He quickly scooted away from her and didn't stop until his back met the alley wall behind him with a light thump. He was still panting, out of breath from all that running and panting he had been doing for the past hour.

Ollie shook his head. "Why should I trust you?" He asked, who knew if she was working with the men that came to take him away, Lex, or somebody entirely different. For all he knew, she was with the government. But whoever she was, she must have been like him. She must hfaveter all, she was water a few seconds ago . It was like magic.

She smirked at him. "Because I'm one of the good guys, of course." She said, taking another step closer to him. "We know what you can do, Oliver Benton. And we want to help you control it, help protect you from people that would want to kill you for that power or use it for evil. Don't you want to be a hero, Ollie?" She asked, looking deep into his eyes, as if trying to get a good look at his soul. "Don't you want to be like your father?"

In that moment, Ollie's eyes grew wide. How did she even know anything about his father?

Suddenly, a static came from the radio attached to her hip and the voice of that man from before that was about to shoot him came on. "Ash! Lex got me and the kid got away!"

Those words echoed in his ear as he reached over to the nearby trash can lid laying nearby on the floor and grabbed it. Ashley was looking over to the radio to hear what was being said, and she knew her cover was blown. She looked up to speak, "Listen, Ollie- Ugh!" her face came into direct contact with the metal trash can lid and she fell right to the ground, just like Ollie did a minute ago.

Ollie took that chance to quickly get back up to his feet and run down the alley once again, this time not looking back. He wasn't risking that happening again. Who knows who could show up this time. All he knew now was he really couldn't trust anyone he met, he just had to meet back up with Lex. Now that he knew at least he was still okay.

Ashley Knight & Max Tierney

San Francisco, CA

1:20 P.M

After an old gun wound opening back up on his shoulder, Max had to quickly escape the paramedics that were on their way to the scene after Lex called them and took off. But Max didn't need them, he just had to get to Ashley and how was he supposed to explain a gun wound when he didn't even get shot? He stumbled into the alley, finding Ashley there, rubbing her cheek as she looked over to him.

"What happened to you?" She asked, walking over to him.

Max shook his head, walking over to her- well, more like stumbling over to her. His hand was clenched at the wound which was still bleeding, there was blood all over his clothes and he was in such pain. "That fucking- Ugh… God, Lex opened my wound up from that last time he got me to accidentally shoot myself." He explains.

Ashley shook her head, taking him by the arm and over to the alley wall. "Sit down." She said, kneeling down. She reached into her back pocket and took out a flask, unscrewing the lip. "Take your hand off. I'll be quick." She told him and he as soon as she did, she poured the water that she had kept on the flask right on the wound. Max couldn't help but hiss in pain, but right after she did it, she pressed her hand against the wound and closed her eyes, concentrating. Within seconds the water formed over his wound and healed it, closing the wound and no longer was there a scar or anything, just stains of blood all over his clothes. "You might have to change your shirt." She smirked.

Max took a deep breath and chuckled. "I guess so." He said, making his way back up to his feet, as she did. "Thanks." He said, looking over at her.

Ashley shook her head. "Don't worry about it. What are partners for?" She said.

Max took a deep breath and looked around. "So, he got away." He assumed. After all, he obviously wasn't anywhere in sight and he lost track of Lex when he opened Max's old wound and took off. "What do we do now? Do we go after them?" He asked, looking over at her.

She crossed her arms and shook her head. "No," She started, taking another breath. "We have another one we have to go bag and tag, hopefully before somebody else interferes." She explained as she started walking down the alley. "Come on, we're going to San Diego!" She said and they both rushed off down and out the alley and onto their next assignment.

Oliver Benton & Lex Keaton

Concord Station, CA

1:36 P.M

After much traveling across the neighborhood, both paranoid and on his own, Oliver finally made his way underground to the Concord subways stop. He went underground, searching his pockets to pull out some money to ride the subway, when he then realized he had nothing to get through the tolls. He left everything at his house, his wallet and phone included. He had no way of getting on the subway or anyway of calling anyone. He walked over to the wall, leaning against it he sighed. His back slid down the wall till his butt reached the ground beneath him. Nobody knew where he was and he had no idea where to go. He couldn't go home and he couldn't afford to go very far.

Ollie buried his faced in his knees, pulling his legs to his chest to hug them as he contemplated his next step. He could always beg for some change, but who would listen? He could paint something for someone, but with what? He was screwed.

But then he heard the voice of an angel. "There you are, Ollie." He heard, and immediately looked up to see it was Lex again, there to save his ass for the- who even knows how many times he's done that today already.

Oliver smiled as he got up to his feet and ran over to Lex, hugging him straight away. He was just that grateful to see him there and that he was okay that he was actually hugging this guy he didn't even know anything about other than he was the only one that could help him. As soon as he realized how awkward he was, he blinked a few times, let him go and took a few steps back. "S-Sorry." Said the blond, clearing his throat. "I'm just… I'm glad you're okay." He said, nodding his head.

Lex chuckled at him and shook his head. "Well, if it makes you feel any better. I'm glad you're okay, too." He looked around. "Come on, we need to get moving." He said as he approached the toll. "Don't worry, I got the money to pay." He said before cashing in for both of them and they made their way over to the subway, hurrying down a few more steps as they both watched it stop right in front of them. "There it is!" Lex said before he hurried past the crowd.

Ollie was right behind him, practically chasing behind until they both got into the subway, just a few seconds to spare before it closed behind them. Ollie took a breath and looked over to him. "So, where are we heading now?" He asked, he didn't have the slightest clue what they were doing next.

A smirk crept up on Lex's face. "Now we go meet up with a friend." He said with a nod as they started to move. "And hopefully not face any more foes before we get there." Said Lex, just praying to himself that everything with Whitney went smoothly with her mission of the day.

You never know what can happen when you're living in a _special world._

TO BE CONTINUED….


End file.
